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UNITED NATIONS\u2014The United Nations wasn\u2019t the only New York attraction for visiting world leaders this week\u2014Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged as a popular draw for like-minded politicians and \u200ba target for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/strong><\/p>\n The 34-year-old former state lawmaker, who took office on January 1 in New York City, rode \u200cthe subway with Ireland\u2019s Prime Minister Micheal Martin, exchanged soccer jerseys with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and talked to students with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store about artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a year when the main sentiment around the UN is existential gloom about the state of the world, a perky young politico was what we all needed,\u201d \u200bsaid Richard Gowan, director of global issues and institutions at the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course a meeting with Mamdani is pretty politically low-risk \u200bfor most leaders. You spend some time on the subway and with school kids. Nobody is going to ask \u2060you to solve the North Korea nuclear problem,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The New York mayor was also a focus of Netanyahu\u2019s Thursday address to the 193-member UN \u200bGeneral Assembly in which he berated Mamdani for calling him a war criminal over Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n Mamdani discussed \u201cBuilding an Economy for the Many\u201d over breakfast \u200bwith Spain\u2019s President Pedro S\u00e1nchez, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa, and met LGBTQ+ youth with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.<\/p>\n Costa, a former mayor of Lisbon, told Mamdani at the event on Tuesday: \u201cYou have the best job that a politician can do \u2013 I miss the ability mayors sometimes have of identifying a problem in \u200bthe morning and having it solved by the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband also had \u200bmeetings with Mamdani.<\/p>\n WAR OF WORDS WITH NETANYAHU<\/strong><\/p>\n While Democrat Mamdani\u2019s meetings were largely with world leaders of similar political leanings, there was one notable exception: Republican US President \u200cDonald Trump.<\/p>\n As \u2060Trump\u2019s ally Netanyahu escalated a war of words with New York\u2019s first Muslim mayor, Trump met with Mamdani at Gracie Mansion, the mayor\u2019s official residence.<\/p>\n \u201cI want him to be a great mayor, and he\u2019s certainly got potential, got great potential,\u201d Trump said at a joint press conference with Mamdani after their meeting on Monday.<\/p>\n Netanyahu\u2019s address on Thursday was a stark contrast.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can\u2019t \u200bsilence me. You can\u2019t silence the truth,\u201d \u200bNetanyahu, Israel\u2019s longest-serving leader, said \u2060of Mamdani.<\/p>\n Mamdani campaigned for office on a promise to have Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes should he visit the largest US city, but later said he determined he lacked the legal authority to do so. This week, Mamdani \u200bdescribed Netanyahu as \u201cthe architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n The evening before Netanyahu\u2019s arrival, Mamdani posted a video \u200bon social media of \u2060him planting an olive tree at Gracie Mansion with Palestinian families from Gaza with the caption: \u201cMay peace be our future.\u201d<\/p>\n Making his first visit to New York on Thursday since Mamdani took office, Netanyahu told the General Assembly: \u201cIsrael didn\u2019t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, Mamdani accused Netanyahu of using his UN speech \u201cto repeat baseless \u2060lies meant \u200bto sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,\u201d adding: \u201cYet no lie can change the fact that he \u200bremains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel rejects genocide allegations and says its military campaign targets Hamas, not Gaza\u2019s civilian population. It \u200bsays it takes steps to minimize civilian harm and says Hamas fighters embed among civilians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n